Mike Shanahan has started looking at college quarterbacks

Posted by Josh Alper on December 30, 2011, 6:01 PM EST

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Mike Shanahan said earlier this week that he has “no doubt” that he’ll be back with the Redskins in 2012.

He’s also started the process of preparing for next season. Mike Jones of the Washington Post reports that Shanahan started reviewing tape of college quarterbacks provided to him by the team’s scouts around midseason.

“I’ve already looked at 10 or 15 of them,” Shanahan said. “I’ll take half-hour a day, early in the morning. The tapes are made up. I’ll look at maybe 75, 80 plays of just a guy throwing the football in game situations and so that’s most of the passes, or at least the good passes during the season, just so I get a feel for the guy.”

That doesn’t guarantee that the Redskins will be selecting a quarterback early in the draft, as this is the kind of things teams do every year to prepare for the draft. Still, it would be surprising if the team didn’t take a serious look in that direction come April. Rex Grossman has turned the ball over 32 times in 16 games with the Redskins and John Beck performed worse than Grossman during his brief run as the team’s starter.

Shanahan offered no hints to his thoughts about this year’s draft class. There’s a good bet that someone looks interesting enough for the Redskins to add a name to the mix before Shanahan’s third season as the team’s head coach.

My God the Skins need a QB! But the draft class is getting thin, and beating the Giants did not help. The free agent class is unremarkable, except for Brees and he ain’t going anywhere. As I’ve wrote in my blog yesterday, we may see Sexy Rexy starting 16 games next year.

thefiesty1 says:Dec 30, 2011 6:33 PM

Please don’t go after RG3. He should at least have an opportunity to go to a team that has any semblance of becoming a real team.

The Skins HAVE to take RG3. Have to. He’s a great kid with a great attitude, a high football IQ, a stable background. If it wasn’t for his injury a bit ago who knows where this guy would be now. They trade up if they have to and get aggressive to add a weapon and beef up an o-line position.

There is going to be a dogfight between Cleveland, Miami, and Washington for RGIII. I feel the skins won’t offer enough to move up and get him. In which case we’ll most likely trade down and get Landry Jones, assuming he comes out. I think Shanny likes his skill set and is stubborn enough to think that he can work on his accuracy.

Alex Smith is the best QB for Shanahan. The key to Shanahan’s offense is the mental preparation the QB puts in. Alex Smith is a system QB and athletic, he would make Shanahan’s diagrams dance on the field.

All you geniuses know more than a guy with 3 Super Bowl rings. Got it. If its all the same to you….I’ll stick with the guy that has the rings. Hail!

commandercornpone says:Dec 30, 2011 8:31 PM

no, he has simply mployed an alex gibbs blocking scheme that has made hpusehold names out of nobodies at rb. most of them were nobody before they ran in a shanarat offense, most of them are nobody after they were cut loose.

Hopefully he doesn’t reach. If one is there it will be the obvious choice. Otherwise, a solid Tackle or top ten level playmaker on offense would be a logical choice.

Great decision to not have chosen a QB with the 10th pick this past year and traded down for the additional draft picks. This year’s draft picks are playing well and showing resolute. Something that can’t be said about prior years.

Please let us lose to the Eagles this Sunday….For if we win and Miami loses, our franchise will be set back beyond the years of cigarettes and booze that my sickly SKIN FAN body can tolerate….I will die not knowing that our team was turned around.

Sincerely,

SKINS FAN #1
Hail?

imaduffer says:Dec 30, 2011 9:51 PM

Shanahan, “if Iget fired do my kids still have a job?”

IMG says:Dec 30, 2011 9:53 PM

Shanahan was made famous by Elway and Terrell Davis.
His continued lack of success post Elway says he is severely overrated.

mojosmagic says:Dec 30, 2011 10:06 PM

Nice vote of confidence before Sunday’s game which the Skins now have zero chance of winning. Shannahan you blow.

ratbastardshanahandjob says:Dec 30, 2011 10:38 PM

Does anyone really trust Shanahan and his swiss cheese brain (full of holes and stinks) to draft a franchise QB???

In 2003, the Broncos signed free agent Jake Plummer. In November, 2006, Shanahan yanked Plummer out as starting QB for the Broncos, who were then 7-4. He put in Jay Cutler, his first round draft pick. They lost three out of their last five games to go 9-7 and miss the playoffs.

Then, of course, he sent two draft picks to the Eagles for Donovan McNabb, trading Jason Campbell to the Raiders. He benched McNabb before halftime during a game with the Lions, at which time the Redskins were 4-3. They lost the game and finished the season 6-10.

This season, he literally bet his reputation on Rex Grossman and John Beck. We all know how this disaster turned out.

So, can someone here please make a case for why Shanahan should be regarded as having good judgment for picking quarterbacks???

It would be funny if they draft Tannehill, a project and poor man’s Stephen McGee (and that may be a back hand slap to McGee). An inaccurate former WR, and the new “love child” of draft pundits (who correctly pointed out that Newton would be a bust and Gabbert was the best QB in the draft…oh wait…..they were wrong).

People create personnas in pro sports, and can keep them for quite some time.

Elway was drafted in 1983 and was known as the best college QB available in years. He did well, getting the Broncos to the Super Bowl. After Shanahan was hired in 1995 Elway went to the next level, and the Broncos ultimately kicked down the door to win the Super Bowl.

Yet since Elway retired, the Broncos were never a very good team – going 7 years before getting a playoff win. Yet for some reason Shanahan kept this aura about him that he was some sort of genius.

This is not Bill Walsh or Bill Belichick here. Nor Sean Peyton, Mike McCarthy or Mike Tomlin. Maybe an Tony Dungy or Jon Gruden – if he has a crackerjack GM to ferret out the players he needs for his systems he can win big.

Shanahan was in line with Daniel Snyder’s other big-splash moves. Sexy, but it’s time had passed. Kind of what they used to say about Playboy Magazine – by the time they publish something, everyone following the situation has already known about it for 3 years.

The evidence has been in for years – the Redskins need to find a new owner. Why anyone expected much out of Shannahan is beyond me.

“This is not Bill Walsh or Bill Belichick here. Nor Sean Peyton, Mike McCarthy or Mike Tomlin. Maybe an Tony Dungy or Jon Gruden – if he has a crackerjack GM to ferret out the players he needs for his systems he can win big.”
—
Actually, McCarthy, Tomlin and even Andy Reid, owe a lot to their front offices (Reid obviously misses Tom Heckert). And where would Sean Peyton be if Gregg Williams had not come to the Saints a few years ago to become the DC?

Shanahan might have been a successful coach outside of Denver if he was paired with a Bill Polian or a solid organization like the Steelers or Ravens. But like Bill Parcells (if I cook the meal I should pick the groceries…..has never won a Super Bowl without Belichick as DC) he believes his own myth, and will not meet people on equal terms.

It’s a problem NFL wide.

There have been 2 truly great NFL icons in the past 30-35 years that could head up an entire organization – Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick. That’s all. People like Shanahan, Parcells, even Eric Mangini, get this idea that they can do it all. They can’t. The Tomlin’s, Peyton’s, Dungy’s, Harbaugh’s (both) and others are successful because they respect the fact that they’ve very good coaches, but they need support from the rest of the organization.

The Paul Brown’s, Vince Lombardi’s, Al Davis’, Chuck Noll’s, Don Shula’s and one or two others were very, very special (even Tom Landry had Gil Brandt finding him unknown free agents that he could turn into Pro Bowlers). These other people aren’t – and a smart NFL owner with a poor franchise has a better chance of becoming a consistent playoff contender by putting together a solid FO and coaching staff that can work together, rather then to think a Shanahan or Gruden is going to single-handedly build him a perennial contender.

It’s why the greats are greats. Or as Clint said (which many of these guys didn’t pay attention to) – “a man has to know his limitations.”

Saying Shanahan is a fraud or not a good coach because he hasn’t won a super bowl since Elway left the Broncos is an asinine statement. Shanahan was still successful after Elway, his Broncos’ won a lot of games and went to the playoffs four times.

Of course your going to be more successful having a hall fame quarterback such as Elway and all the all-pro players the 97 & 98 Broncos had, oppose to Jake Plummer, Brian Griese, Jay Cutler and less talent. Point is he still won a lot of games with the latter two and less around them.

Anybody get the feeling, he’ll ignore his ego, go with his gut and take RGIII? This guy will probably cause Shanahan a few lectures, but pull some wins out of his hat and make him look like a genius. I seriously think its his only chance. I think Manning would be an expensive mistake, and so would Ryan Tannenhill (a system guy who would wilt without a running game)

RGIII’s run ability and athleticism would give the Skins something they havent had at QB in years…a playmaker.

So many people here are ripping Shanahan as a bad coach. As a Redskins fan, i have to point out some important things here.

Shanahan inherited a team with no youth, so drafting youth takes time.

Shanahan traded back 3 times last season for mor draft picks last year and this year, unlike years past.

Shanahan passed on Blaine Gabbert.

Shanahan build a strong core of running backs so that when one went down others stepped up.

Only mistake i can see was trusting in Beck. Grossman may be a turnover machine, but he also makes good throws and gave the Skins chances to win. Beck never did. Grossmans a good backup, but we need a starter. I hope they go after Orton and not Manning or RG3. Have to wait and see. Good news is for once the Skins have a lot of draft picks to use this year.

“FRANKLY”, in my Marty Schottenhiemer voice, ” I was disappointed that he (Shanahan) was coming back!”. He sucks and so does the team. If the Harboughs can come in and instantly go to the playoffs the 1st year and The Shanahans are 11-20 the first two years………”FRANKLY” that says it all!